Crash!

I got out today to do a little more exploring. I got up to about 10,200' elevation and found no evidence that it had even snowed. The big mountains had snow way up high, but the only result of the snow lower was perfect dirt.

I chased down a dead end that I'd been meaning to for a while. It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking, right?
After I concluded that it really was a dead end, I went in search of another destination that I'd not been to for a long, long time. On 6/27/65, Air Force Major Jay Currie and 1st Lieutenant Donald Darby were flying a T-33 jet Airforce Trainer north of Denver. Major Currie was showing off some property he had recently purchased to Lt. Darby. Details of the crash aren't really known. Only that he was last reported flying at 13k feet and was told to climb to 17k feet. Air Traffic Control lost communication with the plane in bad weather.



Apparently, he was flying lower than 13,000 feet...

It's an awesome/upsetting/mind boggling crash. There are parts of airplane spread out for 1/4 mile or so. On the road up, you see parts of sheet metal from the fuselage before you even get close to the main wreckage site. Once you get to the site, there are bits of plane wreckage spotting the landscape all over like tiny rocks. Then there are the big pieces.

bits of wing

This looked like a door or something.

Main tail fin assembly

The view from the wreckage. He must've been flying pretty low. Looking to the East, it's clear skies. This mountain was obviously the tallest thing out there on his path.

Rest in peace, Gentlemen.